


Lessons

by DarcSyster



Series: 5isters [8]
Category: Adventure Quest Worlds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27885436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarcSyster/pseuds/DarcSyster
Series: 5isters [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1037801





	Lessons

Dressed as a dark arts scholar, 5torm carefully glued together some bones. She looked beyond to see 5hadoe standing beside the table. "I didn't hear you come in," 5torm said. "But with you, I never do."

"Got a moment?" 5hadoe asked.

"Not really," 5torm replied. "I need to get this done for Professor Skulltz's class and then I need to study for my finals." Through the skeleton she was assembling, she saw 5hadoe pull out a small pocket watch, glance inside, then close the lid, and slip it back in to her pocket. 5torm looked again. There was no pocket. "Looks like I'm not the only one who has been advancing their education," she said. "Perhaps I could take a short break from my studies."

"You know about the elemental planes?" 5hadoe asked. "Fire, Water, Wind, Metal, Earth, Energy, Light, and Darkness?"

"I'm a mage," 5torm replied. "Every user of magic knows about them. If you are asking _me_ and not 5erenity, I can guess what this is about. There is something I learned recently in the Temple of Light in Doomwood. Every hundred years, each plane sends a champion to this world." She leaned in towards 5hadoe.

"Hey!" 5layne called as she entered the forbidden-looking tower. "Like my new party outfit?"

"You look like a Deathshead Destroyer!" 5erenity frowned in dismay as she followed on in.

"What!" 5hadoe cried. "I thought you just said -" She found 5torm's hand across her mouth.

"Yeah!" 5layne retorted. "This is a lot cooler than that plate armour of mine. I mean cooler as in not so hot and not, you know, cooler 'cause my plate armour is like the coolest ever. LET'S PARTY!"

"I did," 5torm stated.

"But-!" 5hadoe protested in disbelief. "Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be," 5torm replied solemnly. 5layne and 5erenity watched on silently.

"But ..." 5hadoe began in bewilderment before trailing off.

"You're a rogue," 5torm said assertively. "You understand traps and know to anticipate them. You were clearly expecting something."

"Yes!" 5hadoe responded. "But I didn't think it would be that!" She slumped down into a chair. "This! This changes everything!" 5torm quickly pulled her sculpture out of the way as 5hadoe slumped her head into her arms across the table.

"Perhaps I should light some nice calming aromatherapy candles?" 5erenity suggested. 

"Go to Yulgar's!" 5torm yelled. "Both of you! Bring back a half dozen raspberry smoothies. She's going to need them."

  


"This isn't the partying I was hoping for," 5layne said. "Do we know what's going on?"

"Not yet," 5erenity replied. "But what ever it is, it sounds pretty serious. I'm sure with some nice calming meditation, some tonal chanting, and some aromatherapy, we can calm everyone's nerves."

  


"That is so _twisted_!" 5torm cried as 5erenity and 5layne re-entered the cottage.

"I've explained all my logic, all of my reasoning, all my evidence!" 5hadoe responded desperately. "Tell me I'm wrong! Tell me where I made a mistake. Please!"

5torm stood by silently. "I can't," she replied reluctantly. "It all seems ... correct."

If 5hadoe swore, none of them heard it. "I need a drink!" she called furiously. She was immediately handed a smoothie.

"How bad is it?" 5erenity asked.

"Bad," 5torm said. "I think I need a smoothie."

"There's a few things I want to double-check tomorrow to be absolutely certain," 5hadoe said as she took another smoothie.

"If 5hadoe is right," 5torm began, "everything we thought we knew is wrong."

"That shouldn't be a problem for me," 5layne commented nonchalantly. "I try not to know too much. Life's less confusing that way."

"How can we be out of smoothies already?" 5hadoe asked.

"You just drank three of them!" 5erenity replied.

"And 5torm drank the other three," 5layne added.

"Let's go to Yulgar's," 5hadoe urged. "What we think has been happening for some time and will be happening for some time more. I think we can take a night off."

"I certainly need to take my mind off of this," 5torm said.

  


The four stepped past the bar and took a table a little ways from the stage. The musicians began to play. 5hadoe sat hunched over her drink. Eventually her mind began to wander.

  


5hadoe looked about. The musicians were setting up in some kind of forested area.

"Oh, hey there," Crystal Bright called. "Here for the show? We're not ready to play yet, but if you've got a minute we could really use some help getting set up!"

"Sure!" 5erenity replied. "Always glad to help."

"Would you mind putting these flyers up for us?" Crystal Bright asked. "Just pin them to the trees in the performance area."

"No problem!" 5layne confirmed.

5hadoe pulled out her pocket watch and stared at it perplexed. She looked at one of the posters. "Crystal Bright?" she called. "Is there some kind of magic here?"

"Some people say that music is like magic," Crystal Bright replied, "it paints a picture that makes you feel like you're living in someone else's dream. Is it like that for you too?"

"I don't know," 5hadoe replied.  


"As one of the two bards of our group, I'm not sure I would say some one else's dream," 5torm replied. "It's more like your own version of someone else's dream."

"We're going on soon, and there's still so much to get done!" Crystal Bright said. "We still need to put up the speakers, tune our instruments, and set up the lights! You said you and one other was a bard?"

"Me," 5erenity responded. "5torm's into dark metal, punk, and thrash."

"As if your oh so very emotional emo-rock and world music is any better," 5torm responded. "I still know how to tune instruments even if the musician has different tastes from me."

"5hadoe and I can set up your speakers and lights," 5layne offered.

"I'll do the lights," 5hadoe said. "That way I can stay behind them."

"5hadoe likes to stay in the shadows," 5layne commented.

"You took care of it all?" Crystal Bright responded in surprise. "You're a life saver!" She stepped onto the stage and looked at the other musicians. They all shrugged back at her. She turned back to the group. "I hate to ask anything more," she began, "but the band could really use some coffee. Reens was bringing us some from the Scarbucks in Northpointe, but she must have gotten held up. Could you find her and get our drinks?"

"Easiest quest ever!" 5layne yelled.

"The last time either of us said that, we got turned into undead," 5torm groaned.

"Which way to Northpointe?" 5erenity asked.

  


The four walked along the path, which wandered through a small grassy gorge. Waiting in the gorge were two people and a winged moglin.

"Hiya!" the flying moglin greeted. "Are you new here too? I came from Greenguard, before the - well, before. Hey! We don't have to talk about that though. Are you hurt? Gilly's here to help. It'll be all right. Gilly's got big ears to listen to your problems with, and a big heart to share the load!"

"Thanks," 5layne responded, "but I think we're mostly okay! Right gals?" The other three nodded in affirmation.

"But we'll remember you if we do need help," 5erenity offered.

"Welcome," greeted a cleric. "I am Cleric Crystal. I was sent here by the Sisterhood before the cataclysm, but it doesn't really matter where I came from. Northpointe is my home now, and whether by luck or divine intervention, we were spared. Home is such a precious thing to lose. And so, I vow to provide a new home here to any refugees of this horrible apocalypse."

5hadoe raised an eyebrow. She pulled out her pocket watch and looked at it. Deep concern filled her face.

"Sisterhood?" 5erenity asked.

"I am a member of the Temple of the Sisterhood of Dishpan Hands," Cleric Crystal replied. "Our temple is a place of purity, of cleansing ... of determining how to fix what is broken, sick or sullied. We study the arcane lore of purification magic. While my sisters are spread throughout Lore, there are times when we all come together there to pool our knowledge. Our quest is to help cleanse Lore of all impurities."

"Sounds like your kind of thing," 5torm commented contemptuously to 5erenity.

"It does!" 5erenity responded eagerly.

"You seem to be worried about the time," 5layne commented to 5hadoe. "We haven't been gone that long."

5hadoe closed up her watch and slid it back into her pocket which immediately disappeared. "Even so, time is of the essence," she said cheerfully.

"It is a great responsibility we have, we Guardians of the North," Magnus Steel said. "We must shepherd the refugees that arrive. Once they disperse, they become the problems of the other Guardians. But for now, I could use a hand defeating the monsters that threaten them. You four look well qualified to help."

"We'd love to, some other time," 5hadoe responded quickly. "Come on. We need to find Reens."

They came to a fountain and turned left. "Build A Beast?" 5layne asked as she read the store front.

"Hello heroes. All in one piece, are you? Good. I'm Faith, the BeastMaster," Faith greeted them. She looked at 5hadoe. "Hey! I haven't seen you in awhile!"

"Which way to the Scarbucks?" 5hadoe asked.

"That way," Faith replied. "Just past the fountain."

"Yeesh!" 5layne commented. "What's the hurry?"

"We don't want to miss the concert," 5hadoe said. Just past the fountain they found Reens coming out of the Scarbucks.

"Reens?" 5erenity called in concern. "Is everything all right? You look so tired compared to the last time I saw you in Arcangrove." 

"I'm as good as can be expected," Reens replied. "Arcangrove was some time ago." 5hadoe quickly double-checked her pocket watch.

"Crystal Bright asked us to help you bring her and her band members their coffee," 5layne stated.

"Great!" Reens replied. "I could use a few extra hands."

  


They returned back to the forest. A crowd had gathered about. After dropping off the coffee, 5hadoe checked her pocket watch again.

"You seemed to be very concerned about the time," 5erenity commented. "Is something wrong?"

"I'll tell you later," 5hadoe replied, "after the concert." The band began their set.

"It really does almost feel like you're living through the stories she's singing," Reens said sadly.

"I dunno, I feel like I must be missing something," 5layne replied. "I don't see anything at all."

"Really? That kind of sucks for you," Reens commented. "Are you sure you're not wearing some kind of ring of magic resistance or something?"

"No, I-"

"Excuse me?" called a voice. It belonged to a red-haired woman. "You're 5hadoe, 5torm, 5erenity, and 5layne?"

"Yeah, that's right," 5hadoe replied.

"My name's Miranda," the woman responded. "I was here with William, my sweetheart. But I've gotten lost from him. I can't find him anywhere."

"Where did you last see him?" 5erenity asked.

"I don't know," Miranda replied. "I can't remember. Everything is so foggy. Please! I heard you were real heroes. I was hoping you'd help me find him."

"Oh hey, of course we will," 5layne replied. "Don't worry. It'll be okay."

As they followed Miranda, they did not see Reens shrug.

  


5hadoe checked her pocket watch again. 

"You are slayed!" 5layne yelled at the formerly living shadow.

" _You are slain_ ," 5erenity asserted in frustration.

"I am 5layne!" 5layne confirmed in confusion.

"If the ladies at the orphanage couldn't correct her after so many years," 5torm said deploringly to 5erenity, "what makes you think you can?"

"Enough!" 5hadoe yelled. "I need you all to follow me."

"But what about Miranda?" 5erenity asked.

"How many Dark Imps have you killed?" 5hadoe asked.

"At least a dozen," 5erenity replied.

"Lucky you," 5layne said. "I haven't found any Dark Imps."

"How much darkness have you collected from them?" 5hadoe asked.

"None," they all agreed.

"We're wasting our time on these imps," 5torm said. "You've found a trap, haven't you?"

"Maybe," 5hadoe replied. "It's complicated. That's why I need all of you to help me for a moment - over there!"

"We'll be back in a moment," 5layne said to Miranda. The four headed through the forest.

  


5hadoe raised her head from the table only to see the other three doing the same. Quickly, she checked her pocket watch.

"We're in Yulgar's!" 5layne commented in surprise.

"What happened to the forest and Miranda?" 5erenity asked.

"I think the four of us need to leave," 5torm said as she rose from the table. "Right now!"

"5hadoe?" 5erenity called as they left Yulgar's. "What's going on?"

"We need somewhere safe to discuss this," 5torm said.

"I know just the place," 5hadoe replied. She lead them to a small cottage on the edge of Battleontown.

"Wow!" 5layne commented. "Look at that aquarium!"

"Help me push it against the window," 5hadoe instructed. "That way, no one will be able to see us or hear us."

"I hope whoever owns this place doesn't mind us doing that," 5erenity said.

"I mind, but this is the only place I can think of that we can make safe," 5hadoe said. 5torm stared at her in astonishment.

"You bought a house?" 5torm asked in disbelief.

"She always wanted one growing up," 5layne said.

"She's a rogue!" 5torm asserted. "Rogues are not suppose to have _permanent residences_! It makes them vulnerable."

"What's going on?" 5erenity asked. 

"While I've been advancing my magical education in secret," 5torm began, "5hadoe has been secretly stealing away the hours -"

"I can barely steal seconds," 5hadoe protested.

"Of dessert?" 5layne asked. "You always use to be so good at that. I could go for some more of Yulgar's Famous Toffee Cake right now!"

"Studying the nature of time," 5torm continued in frustration.

"Oh! You meant like that," 5hadoe said.

"You're a chronomancer?" 5erenity asked in surprise.

"A Thief of Hours," 5hadoe corrected. She pulled out her pocket watch and opened it. "This I picked from the pocket of the chronolord who plucked me from our timestream to help them deal with a chronoassassin who was creating time paradoxes. What he told me only confirmed what I had already begun to suspect from my lessons in the ChronoSpan." She placed the watch on the table.

"Wow!" 5layne cried in astonishment. "Look at all those dials!"

"What does it do?" 5erenity asked.

"It tells me what time it is," 5hadoe stated. 5erenity and 5torm gave her dissatisfied looks. " _Whenever_ I am," 5hadoe added. She pulled out a map of Lore and placed it on the table. "Just as I thought," she said. "Look at Northpointe."

"I don't see it," 5erenity said. She looked at 5hadoe in astonishment. "Because it's not there yet, is it?" she asked cautiously. "Did we just travel through time?"

"Not quite," 5hadoe replied. "I think it was more like a dream. But in normal dreams, memories from our past mix with our imagination. Crystal Bright's song at Yulgar's triggered us all to dream, but instead of our dreams using memories from our past, I think they were using memories from our future, of a concert by her that hasn't happened yet."

"But Cleric Crystal spoke of some kind of cataclysm!" 5erenity responded.

"Which if 5torm is right about Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, won't necessarily happen," 5hadoe responded. "Since we were dreaming, we didn't really observe it, so we haven't really affected it. However, my watch still worked in the dream and told me when that would happen. We have time to keep it from happening, unless of course, it needs to happen."

"If we're going through this again, I need to sit down," 5torm said.

  


"Also, or so I was told, at that very moment in time, Drakath and his master returned to being a part of our universe," 5hadoe said.

"I don't get the part about the snake biting it's own tail," 5layne said. "It all sounds like the kind of thing Cysero would say."

"There's method to his madness," 5hadoe stated. Then she thought for a moment. "And madness to his method."

"Any way to check if these are not just coincidences?" 5erenity asked anxiously.

"I think so," 5hadoe replied. "That's what I want to double-check tomorrow."

"There is one thing quite obvious that you did _not_ mention," 5erenity challenged.

"Since I'm pretty sure there's no way for us to confirm that, I figured there was no reason to mention it," 5hadoe replied.

"Would you _want_ it to be true?" 5torm asked. "Would any of us? I certainly wouldn't."

"Discovering what we now suspect is wrong would be all right," 5hadoe said, "But I'm not sure I want to deal with it if that bit is true."

"I think we need to know," 5erenity replied. "And there is a way to confirm it. When I was taking my Oracle 101 course, while not part of the course, one of the students wanted to know if there was a way to magically determine if certain things were true. That's how we learned about _The Spell of Divine Confirmation_. You can ask up to 3 yes or no questions about any one subject but the spell can only ever be used to ask those questions _once_ on the desired subject. So if I used it on the four of us, no one would ever again be able to use it to ask any variation of those questions about any of the four of us. Which means, if it's already been used on us to ask the same questions, it won't work. However, I'd require the assistance of a living as opposed to undead necromancer to do the spell."

"Then it will need to wait until after tomorrow," 5torm said. "Provided I survive my final exams that is."

"You couldn't do it now?" 5erenity asked.

"No," 5torm replied. "There is a reason I don't wish to discuss."

"Besides, while each one of us is one of the base classes," 5hadoe began, "it would really only be significant if we - " She paused in thought. "Oracle. Necromancer. I guess a Thief of Hours would count for that." She turned to 5layne. "5layne! I have a very important question to ask."

"Is it _Do I want the rest of your smoothie_?" 5layne asked eagerly.

"No," 5hadoe replied. 5layne frowned. "How can anyone be both alive and dead at the same time without being undead?"

"Do you mean like a BloodAncient or a DeathKnight?" 5layne asked. 5hadoe stared in astonishment.

"Thankfully, those are both just stories," 5erenity said.

5torm's spell glowed about 5layne. "She's both," 5torm stated. 

"What?" 5erenity cried in horror and disbelief. "According to the stories, to be a Blood Ancient, you needed to have drunk the blood of long dead ancient vampires!"

"You say that like it's icky!" 5layne responded. "It's not like it was that bad." 5hadoe shook her head in disbelief.

"And a DeathKnight?!" 5erenity cried. "You'd need to have died! And be dead, without having been resurrected or turned undead!"

"It happened while 5torm and I were in Doomwood," 5layne stated.

"I'm an Oracle, and a healer, and an Acolyte!" 5erenity cried. "Why didn't you come to me for help?"

"Because you can't help her," 5torm responded, "just as you can't help me. We had our lives ripped from us, stolen. One moment we were living; the next, we were undead minions, slaves of a most ugly beast. Because the beast made us undead without us first dying and becoming dead, a helpful necromancer was able to revive us, but it's borrowed time. We each now exist in that moment between dying and dead. When the conditions have been met, that moment will pass. 5layne and I have each been preparing ourselves. If all goes according to plan, tomorrow we will take back our lives! That's why I can't help with the spell now. I'm not quite truly living either. I know how specific magic spells are, so if I must be living, it must be _my_ life I am living."

  


"Congratulations for making it to the top of the Tower of Necromancy!" called a sweet but sinister voice. "Oh! It's you! I didn't recognize you in your new outfit. You killed Noxus!" 

"He's not dead," 5torm responded contemptuously. "Empress Gravelyn simply tore his skull off and placed the skull of her minion Chuckles in its place. She said something about having Cysero turn his skull into a weapon of some kind."

"Oh! I guess that's not so bad. But why did you help her?"

"He wanted to turn _me_ into one of his undead minions!" 5torm protested. "If I must be undead, I am going to be a most powerful lich with my own freewill, not some measly minion! Once by that beastly creation of yours Vordred was enough! And now just after I've graduated your fine university and I've learned how to defend myself against such, I learn it won't be _quite_ so necessary. Noxus is no longer a threat and Vordred will _never_ be the Champion of Darkness."

"Sure he will! Once he -"

"It won't happen."

"Do you really think you can stop him?"

"Oh, I suspect I may be drawn into that battle whether I like it or not," 5torm responded. "But that won't matter. Vordred won't win even if I'm not there. Every hundred years, the elemental planes _choose_ their champion. They did not choose Vordred. They did not choose you. They did not choose Noxus. They did not choose Vayle. They did not even choose me!"

"Why would they choose you? You're a hero!"

" _Anti_ -hero. That's like a hero, except _evil_. I seem to be the most evil person in this world. I certainly haven't found anyone _more_ evil."

"But once they see what Vordred can do -"

"If it were me, _I_ wouldn't care what Vordred can do," 5torm retorted. "What ever choice _I_ made, _I_ would know with certainty was the right one. If you think you can prove me wrong, I'll just prove you wrong. As the elemental plane of Darkness, I'd just throw more darkness at my Champion to make sure your Vordred could not win."

"They can't do that!" 

"Why not?"

"How can you be so certain?" 

5torm thought for a moment. From her backpack, she pulled out a small hour glass and placed it on the small table before her. "This is broken! The sand in it doesn't fall!"

"Yet," 5torm replied. "When it starts working, you will know I am right."

"So you're here to gloat?"

"Gloating is for lesser beings!" 5torm said as she placed a small statue of bones on the table before her. "I am here to collect my diploma! Since it re-opened, I am your university's first honour student! Behold! My graduation project." With a wave of her hand, her statue became animated.

"That's so cute!"

"You can keep it if you'd like," 5torm said, " _After_ you give me my diploma. I understand a symbol of gratitude on the part of the student, which is me, to the dean, which is now you, is not an uncommon expectation." A dim, almost imperceptible glow flickered about the roll of paper where 5torm's fingers touched it. She smiled a most sinister smile.

"There's some kind of fleshy bits in the skulls," the dean said as she examined the bony minion.

"They're venom sacs from a bonefeeder," 5torm stated. "Bonefeeder venom dissolves not just bone, but all flesh. It is most excruciating, quite the exquisite agony."

"You mean it can spit venom? Awesome! Why two heads?"

"You know what they say, _two heads are better than one_ ," 5torm replied pleasantly. The dean screamed. 5torm smiled. "After all, you might have dodged the first."

"Why?" the dean screamed.

"Because I'm evil," 5torm responded pleasantly with a pleasant smile. "Are you expecting me to monologue like some comic book, cartoon, or video game villain? The writers make them do that so the audience knows what they're up to but it makes them appear insecure. One only gloats, and a monologue is a form of gloating, when one has defeated a foe one considers superior or equal to oneself. True evil knows that no one is equal let alone superior. Therefore, no need to waste precious time with a useless monologue when we can spend that time more productively by simply killing the so-called hero. That's the smarter way. Except of course, in explaining all of this, I am wasting time, _your_ time. In a few minutes, without the help of a healer, a healing potion, or the bonefeeder venom antidote, you will be quite dead. I am quite looking forward to witnessing every moment of your demise. It's so rare I have the opportunity to enjoy the suffering I inflict. But that is only half of it. Every necromancer as soon as they're able, myself included, prepares for their transformation in death into becoming undead. Being reduced to ashes or to sludge by bonefeeder venom will not be an obstacle for a truly competent rank 10 necromancer. I want to see how you're going to do it, or even if you can."

"All this for a stupid piece of paper?" 

"Really!" 5torm chided. "You should have attended more of the classes in your own university. Since you did not perform even a cursory magical scan of this creation of mine, you are clearly not fit to be the dean of Necromancy U. I suppose I might need to take over. That is the way evil works. If you want the top job, assassinate the person above so you can take their place. I suppose I shall need some practice teaching. So here begins the lesson."

"In the practice of necromancy, magic flows from the necromancer into their creations. You raised Noxus from the dead and thus it is your magic which animates Noxus. Then, with Noxus, you created Vordred. Given your part, your magic animates Vordred. However, your part is multiplied because it is your magic that animates Noxus and it was some of that magic which Noxus used as his part to animate Vordred. Thus all the magic which animates Vordred, and all the magic which Vordred uses to cast spells originates in whole or in part with you. Thus anything Vordred does, by using the right sympathetic magic, can be undone through you. Thus you are his weakness. You are the reason he cannot and will not defeat the Champion of Darkness. But back to your question. When you accepted this minion in exchange for my diploma, what you were really giving me was not simply a piece of paper, but through sympathetic magic, the life Vordred stole from me, thus weakening Vordred in the process. But more importantly, my life is now once again my own. No more living on borrowed time. And no more being a minion!

"Of course I didn't need to kill you for that, but it's so seldom I get to enjoy my handiwork. It's such a pleasure watching you die, witnessing you writhe and scream. Most of the time, it's simply not practical for me to pause and enjoy the experience. Oh! I think your time is up." 5torm smiled a most evil smile. "It's been a pleasure killing you. Enjoy your death." She glanced at the hour glass. The sands were falling through, filling up the bottom. She smiled. She drove her fist through her sculpture, smashing it to dust.

  


"Voiduminance Necrot-Morph!" growled Vordred. "Now, kill - Impossible!"

5layne's mirrored shadow blade sliced deeply into the being of darkness, the remains of his skull armour hanging about him. "Surprised?" she asked, her voice an icy cold that sent shivers of fear up Artix's spine. "You can't steal away my life because I am not of the living. Because I'm not living, that spell can't make me undead. And because I'm not undead, you can not control me. In everything else, people can fight for their lives. They might have a one in a million, a one in a billion, a one in a billion billion chance of success. Whatever it is, _it is never zero_. But not with you. All those lives you've stolen, they had _zero_ chance of fighting back. _I_ am fighting back - for all of them! You can't kill me.  I am death, your death, brought forth just for you. Her sword slashed decisively through his heart. _YOU - ARE - SLAYED!_ " 

"No!" growled Vordred as he dissipated, only his bony helm remaining. A glow flickered up her sword. She quivered as it entered her.

"That battle was great!" Artix called cheerfully as he stepped up behind her.

"Totally awesome!" 5layne agreed.

"Ever considered becoming a paladin?" Artix added.

"Don't you need to be a healer for that?" 5layne asked.

"Rank 10 and a legend," Artix confirmed.

"Not my thing," 5layne replied. "Weapons and armour are my thing, my everything - were my everything."

"Are you all right?" Artix asked suspiciously.

"Yeah!" 5layne replied. "Sure! I think. At least I'm alive again. I can already feel the moments of my life time ticking away. I suppose I might have been able to do that before, but - I kind of notice it more now. They're precious, each moment - but not the most precious thing."

"5layne?" Artix called in a worried voice.

"I guess I'm sounding kind of weird," 5layne said.

"There's no _kind of_ about it," Artix responded.

"It started when 5torm and I went to take a runestone to the other side of the undead army and ran into Vordred," 5layne began. "Suddenly, just like that, without warning, we were undead. And being undead, he commanded us to take a message to Lightguard Keep. Vayle said Vordred was too powerful, that she couldn't turn us back. But she had this shard thing. She gave us back - life times but with no time. It's like having an hourglass with only 1 grain of sand in it. Somehow 5torm managed to get her 1 grain of sand to go back and forth like Vayle taught us to so it would never quite fall through. But me, I couldn't and my 1 grain fell through. I had nothing. With no time left in my borrowed life time, I was dead.

"And I was dead. I just fell there, not moving, being dead the way the dead usually are. I was so dead, they even took me into the crypts under Lightguard Keep and laid me to rest. But I couldn't rest. Something that had been nagging at me began to really annoy me. Nothing should have mattered, but there was something that did matter and it seemed to matter a lot. Life is never fair, but in everything, it always grants you a chance. The odds are often completely stacked against you, but life always gives you that very last roll of the dice. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis! The odds of surviving them are - near impossible, and yet, now and again, people do survive. It's like life always guarantees you that last all or nothing roll of the dice. Except sometimes that last all or nothing roll of the dice is a sword in your hand in one last desperate seemingly impossible battle. However it shows up, it's always there. Maybe I had missed my chance but I was pretty sure I hadn't. I guess the only reason I could think about it was because I had that empty borrowed life time. But as I thought about it, Vordred was so powerful and the spell so - I really had no chance. What ever form the dice would have taken, life didn't have a chance to give them to me for that last all or nothing throw. Vordred hadn't just killed me. _Vordred had denied life one thing life guarantees_! I found myself furious about that. Too furious! So furious, I couldn't lie still! That surprised everyone, me being dead and getting up. Arryd threw all sorts of spells at me, but none of them did anything. He ran away screaming something about how I had become Death itself, a DeathKnight.

"Through this entire battle, I've been a DeathKnight, neither living nor undead. Killing Vordred has restored my life. Not filling up my empty borrowed life time but returning to me my original life time, complete with all of the original sands left within it. This was my all or nothing chance. And I won! And when you win, you get more sand, and another chance! It feels wonderful! But I still feel kind of furious! It's the same fury when I was dead - death. If Vordred could take my life without killing me, maybe there are others who could do that too. _They must be stopped_!"

"You're absolutely right!" Artix agreed. "I suspect a lot of those will be undead of one sort or another, liches, DoomKnights, that kind of thing."

"Then I guess you and I will be fighting side by side many more times in the future," 5layne said. 

"I look forward to it!" Artix cried gleefully.

  


"How'd it go?" 5hadoe asked.

"Exactly as planned," 5torm said with a smile. "Slayne! I see you are very much alive. That means you were successful."

"Yup!" 5layne confirmed. "But I still feel weird. It still hurts."

"Where?" 5erenity asked. "I can heal your wounds."

"This can't be healed," 5layne said. "And if it can, I'm not sure I want it healed. But I didn't see any sign that the plane of darkness gave any extra anything to Artix and me."

5torm sighed in frustration. "She can add numbers," 5hadoe said, "but she can't always add values."

"What do you mean?" 5layne asked.

" _You_ are a DeathKnight, and a Blood Ancient," 5torm explained. " _You_ were the darkness added to the battle."

"Oh!" 5layne replied. "I hadn't though of that. I guess you're right. But I don't think DeathKnights are evil, or good. It's different than that. Hey! The thing you were 90% certain on? I'm now 100 and 10% certain about. I still don't get it though. It still doesn't make sense to me."

"Except it does make sense," 5hadoe explained. "It's like a puzzle. None of the pieces make sense on their own. They only make sense when you put them together and start seeing the bigger picture." 

"And the big picture they were talking about yesterday means that the world is really very different than what we see with our eyes and have been taught to think of as true," 5erenity said.

"This sounds like I'm going to need to start thinking," 5layne said in dismay.

"We'll all do our best to help you," 5hadoe said.

"Which means, we're now ready for the Spell of Divine Confirmation," 5erenity sated. "5hadoe and I have written down the questions as we think they should be asked. Remember, they need to be yes or no questions. 5torm?"

"They look all right to me," 5torm replied. "What are we going to do if we get a _yes_ for all of them?"

"Panic?" 5hadoe suggested.

"You never panic!" 5torm asserted.

"There's always a first time for everything," 5hadoe replied.

"I think if we get three yeses, we should have a party to celebrate!" 5erenity replied.

"Sounds good to me!" 5layne agreed.

"A ceremony of mourning I should think," 5torm responded.

"5layne!" 5erenity instructed. "Read over the questions. How would you feel knowing the truth about these questions?"

"This third one doesn't make any sense to me," 5layne replied. "But this first one, it kind of sounds like -" Stunned, she looked at the other three. "I think I'll join 5hadoe in panicking!"

5torm's hand dimmed into an aura of shadowy darkness while 5erenity's glowed brightly. They touched them together. A whirling sphere of light and darkness surrounded the four. "We have written our questions as we wish to ask them!" 5erenity intoned. "Mark each positive by burning it away, and each negative with fire-proof ice." 5layne screamed as the paper burst into flames, being quickly consumed. "I think that was a pretty solid three yeses," 5erenity stated.

"So now it's time we party?" 5layne asked. "No wait! We're suppose to panic first, aren't we?"

5erenity looked at a stunned 5hadoe and a glum 5torm. "It's not the end of the world!" she asserted.

"It might be better if it were," 5torm stated.

  


In the Tower of Necromancy, a shadowy figure rose. "I will get you for this 5torm! I'm more than enough of a necromancer!"  



End file.
